Grand jury opts not to indict cop in fatal accident
A Harris County grand jury has declined to indict a Houston police officer who fatally struck a man walking on a Sunnyside sidewalk last year, according to court documents.
Officer Orlando Hernandez will not face charges for criminally negligent homicide in the crash which killed 62year-old Michael Wayne Jackson on Dec. 4 at the 4100 block of Reed Road near Scott Street.
Hernandez lost control of the cruiser as he was driving with lights and sirens activated while responding to help another officer apprehend five people who reportedly fled on foot after an alleged carjacking, Houston police said after the incident.
Jackson’s family members on Tuesday learned of the grand jurors’ decision, filed June 28, according to a Chron.com report.
“I think it’s negligent homicide,” Timothy Jackson, Michael’s brother, told Chron. “If I had driven on the sidewalk and hit somebody for whatever reason, it would have been negligent homicide. It’s the same thing for this officer. Just because he works for the state or the city, he shouldn’t get a pass on that.”
On Dec. 30, Houston police released video containing body-camera footage from Hernandez and officer Anthony Aranda in the incident.
In the video, Hernandez can be seen traveling at an average speed of 75 mph before he hit Jackson, according to data compiled by Chron.com from HPD’s crash report.
The posted speed limit in the area of Reed Road the crash occurred at is 40 mph.
Investigators with the Houston Police Department’s vehicular crimes division also stated in the crash report that Hernandez was “traveling at an unsafe speed” and “performed a faulty evasive action.”
Any officer driving in an authorized emergency vehicle is to “drive with due regard for the safety of all persons and is responsible for the consequences of reckless disregard for the safety of others,” according to the department’s motor vehicle pursuit policy which was revised in 2018.
Travis McGee, a Sunnyside resident and community activist, expressed his disappointment in the grand jury’s decision and said city officials’ silence on the matter sends mixed signals to the community about police accountability.
“If you think about it, there’s not one Houston City Council member saying anything and they are the ones who have to approve the policies,” McGee said Thursday. “You know, each and every time something happens with police officers the only thing we hear from our elected employees is that ‘We just want our officers to make it home safely.’ You very seldom hear them saying that they want everybody to make it home safe. That’s what the message should be.”
Attempts to reach Houston Police Officer’s Union President Doug Griffith for comment were unsuccessful Thursday morning.